Split Seconds
by Irena K
Summary: Drabbles of various genres, characters and occasional pairings. [Update 6-1: 1 JoshDonna fic, 1 JoshSam fic] ::Winner! Absolutely Fabulous: First place Outstanding Drabble 2003 Jeds::
1. Author blather

Disclaimer: They belong to Aaron Sorkin, NBC, and other people who are not me.

Feedback: is a girl's best friend. Constructive criticism is, as always, actively encouraged.

Notes: Drabbles, appearing in the order they were written. Josh. Donna. Josh and Donna. Toby. Josh/Donna. Anesthesiologists. And some very special guest stars. If you've been watching Bravo at all, I'm sure you'll figure out who they are.

Mostly an exercise in new-fan obsession. Hopefully, there will be more to add as time goes on, as well as attempts to write other characters who are neither Josh nor Donna. For now, enjoy.

Note II: I know how to spell Toby's last name. I know that 'i' comes before 'e' and that Ziegler does not start with a 'c.' Really.

Revenge of Note (11-13-03): So, seriously, does Josh have any family members left by this point? 'Cause the fanfic's done a pretty good job of killing off the ones that Sorkin didn't. I only mock, because I love.

The Note Returns (12-29-03): Been a while since the muse struck. Finally kicked in around finals but typing anything up had to wait until now. First time writing CJ, circa Posse Comitatus. And more Josh, who refuses to leave me alone. It was really meant to be Josh/Amy but it just didn't quite turn out that way. So I'm biased. Sue me.

Son of Note (4-8-04): Making sense of Sam's departure. Because that was such a conspiracy. Also, I'm now an official award-winner! Well, actually, I've been one for awhile, I've just been dawdling with the updates. Check out www. thejeds . net (only without the spaces) to see all the winners. Good fic, good times.

Bride of Note (6-1-04): It dawns on me that I don't write much slash. This is possibly because I suck at it. It also occurs to me that 'Bride of…' traditionally comes before 'Son of…' Ah well. We'll assume Note and his bride were just living in sin before then.

Spoilers: It's all fair game

Rating: PG

On with the show!


	2. Because she would if she could

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS

Josh was sure he hadn't done anything to deserve this.

He hadn't caused any international incidents. Well, not recently.

He hadn't started any wars. That he knew of.

He hadn't kicked any puppies.

Okay, so Josh was *reasonably* certain he hadn't done anything to deserve being woken up at 7:30 am on a Saturday by a film crew and five gay men who insulted his hair and demanded to know what kind of moisturizer he used.

Reasonably certain. Almost positive. Mostly.

At the very least he knew who to blame.

"DONNA!"

"Oh, I like him," Carson said. "He's so commanding."

FIN


	3. Or maybe it's the massive blood loss

MOMENTS BEFORE

Maybe it's a bit like falling in love.

He's not sure he's ever actually been. In love, that is. But he's heard a lot about it, how you're flying and sinking and your heart's breaking all at once.

He's pretty sure that last part isn't supposed to be literal, gaping chest wound and blood spilling over your hands.

Maybe it's not like that at all. Maybe it's more like sex. Petite mort. Isn't that what the French call an orgasm? Where did he hear that? It sounds like something Donna would tell him just to see his reaction.

So maybe it's like love or maybe it's like having sex with Donna and he's not sure why he just thought that. But Toby's calling him now and he needs to answer. 

Except he can't because he's too busy falling.

FIN


	4. Just as well he didn't get her those ski...

DOWNHILL RACER

By the time Donna arrived at Josh's office, she was already out of breath.

"This," she announced, "is all your fault."

Josh blinked. "*My* fault?"

"*You* gave me a book on alpine skiing. *You* gave me vacation time. *You* suggested a quality ski resort. It's. All. Your. Fault." She punctuated each word with a finger jabbed at his chest.

"My fault."

"Yes."

"That you broke your leg."

"Yes!"

Josh thought about that for a moment. "Does that mean I can't start referring to you as Donna 'The Snowbunny' Moss?"

She responded by hitting him in the shin with her crutch.

FIN


	5. While secretly he's plotting to kill you

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Toby is not, by nature, a loud man.

He can be. And within this administration, that's a necessity. Shouting is less a state of being that it is a survival tactic, the only way to be heard above the ruckus.

Still, compared to his co-workers, he tends to fade into the background. He isn't stridently vocal like Josh or striking like CJ. He lacks Sam's talent for small talk and Leo's ability to command. He will never inspire loyalty like Josiah Bartlet.

But Toby remembers something the others don't.

It's always the quiet ones you have to look out for.

FIN


	6. Hopeless unromantics

MATCHED SET

Because Bartlet's second term was over, because they'd been together over eight years, because to him it seemed like the perfect solution, he said, "Let's get married."

"What?"

"Let's get married."

"Doesn't that normally involve dating first?"

"Who says we ever did anything normally?"

"See, I still don't understand why that makes it a good idea."

"Well, you're the only person who knows where any of my stuff is."

And because Bartlet's second term was over, because they'd been together over eight years, because he spoke the truth without ever saying anything at all, she said, "Okay. Let's get married."

FIN


	7. The joke is, they don't get paid to put ...

THEY GET PAID TO WAKE YOU UP

He'd been a little insulted when he got over the oh-god-the-First-Lady-is-talking-to-me panic. He was perfectly aware of doctor-patient privilege, thank you very much.

Still. The leader of the free world was lying in the surgical unit and he had a disease which could destroy his mind in the midst of his service and could it be the country might just possibly have the right to know that?

But, frankly, it didn't matter what rights the country had. 

His only obligation was to insure the President of the United States would wake up tomorrow morning.

So that's exactly what he did.

FIN


	8. Because he's Toby Ziegler, damnit

PLAYING MAKE-BELIEVE

He could've asked how he was feeling. Could've. Didn't.

That would make it real and as long as it's only seventeen people who know it's not really real and he can pretend he's not keeping secrets. He can pretend he wasn't lied to, pretend that whatever's left of his idealism remains intact, and, at the terrible heart of it all, pretend a great man he's been privileged to call friend is not being destroyed by inches.

Which means he can pretend he doesn't want to cry.

Not that it matters because he's Toby fucking Ziegler and he wouldn't cry anyway.

FIN


	9. Of course, what he'd really like is a de...

SHADOWS

Sometimes it's bothersome, knowing that you've been reduced to a shadow in the corner after the press crops the photo. Easy to ignore the kid 'cause unless someone's shooting at him, the kid don't matter.

But then you'll get a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye, a phantom with black curls and chubby hands holding up a picture, asking, is that you, Daddy? You turn to her so you can say, sure is, sweetheart, only to find her vanished back to wherever ghosts of possible futures go. 

Even so, you find you're not so bothered anymore.

FIN


	10. She just needs to give him a kick in the...

SEEDS OF GREATNESS

She speaks of him often. Her husband teases her about having a crush.

She doesn't. Well, maybe a little. Only in a fond, wistful sort of way. She isn't blind. Cute kid, wide-eyed, articulate.

And brilliant. She doesn't think he even recognizes his own genius, not when he's been taught to hide it so well by an old man fallen prey to petty, bitter envies. Capable of so much if only pointed in the right direction.

He doesn't know it yet, but the Bartlet kid's going to change the world. If nothing else, Delores plans on making sure of it.

FIN


	11. Acknowledgement in small, baked goods

THE FIRST TIME

As Jed held the ice to his bruised cheek, Mrs. Landingham sat down beside him, cookie tin in hand.

"Talked to your father, I see."

"Yeah."

"Guess he disagreed with me."

"Yeah." He couldn't say which shamed him more, that he'd failed to argue the point or that it'd taken so long for him to try and do so.

She opened the tin. "Want one?"

He blinked. "You never let me have your cookies."

"First time for everything."

Jed didn't think she was talking about the cookies. Accepting her offer, he bit into the best chocolate-chip cookie he'd ever had.

FIN


	12. Sophocles, eat your heart out

LIKE A GREEK TRAGEDY

"Grandmother?"

"Cancer."

"Grandfather?"

"Cancer."

"*Both* of them?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"Unfortunate coincidence, huh?"

"Well, what about your aunt?"

"Slipped, hit her head, drowned in the pool."

"Your uncle?"

"Car accident. Decapitated."

"Ew. Um, childhood best friend?"

"Struck by lightening."

"Pet goldfish?"

"Overfed by the house-sitter."

"The dog?"

"Choked on a squirrel."

"…"

"Yeah, we didn't see that one coming either."

"Josh, is there anyone in your family who *didn't* meet a tragic end?"

"Well, my great-uncle died peacefully in his sleep at the age of ninety-two."

"I guess that's something."

"Of course, he thought he was Julius Caesar at the time."

FIN


	13. It was a stupid way to die anyway

A GAME OF YOU

Maybe he won't call her Ms. Cregg anymore. Maybe he'll scream her name.

_My, what talented hands you have_.

The Vera Wang's gone and so is his tux.

_Oh, you didn't learn_ that _at Secret Agent school._

He won't take a bullet for her. She won't let him. Then he couldn't make her moan and grasp blonde hair going to gray in hands with perfect, manicured nails.

_ You can't make me let you go._

Maybe he won't call her Ms. Cregg anymore and maybe she won't be crying on a bench while the lights around her flash blue and red.

FIN


	14. Call it his personal debate club

THE ART OF COMPROMISE

Mom once said a relationship needs room for argument without losing the ability to find the middle ground.

That never happened with Mandy. She always won, woe to whoever said otherwise.

That never happens with Amy. Oh, they fight alright, but they mostly stop when she throws a water balloon at him or they have sex. No one ever admits defeat, no one ever surrenders. No one ever wins, either. Too much in common to find their way through it all.

He tries to ignore the little voice that tells him he and Donna always find a way to compromise.

FIN


	15. He wasn't elected, he was recruited

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SAM SEABORN?

Sam was straightening his tie when his new partner came into the locker room. "Hey."

"Hey."

"So, did you get the forty-seventh straightened out?"

Jay scratched the back of his neck. "Well…"

Sam sighed. "It'd be nice to know if I actually won or not."

"Hey, be thankful we managed to neuralize the amount of people we did. Creating an entire political campaign out of thin air ain't exactly easy, you know."

"I know. Still…"

"Look on the upside," Jay said with a grin as the pair stepped out into MIB headquarters. "'Least you look pretty in black."

"Damn straight."

FIN


	16. That river in Egypt

LIE BLEEDING

.

.

Why can't it be both? she asks.

Hand against his back in those first awful weeks after Rosslyn.

At the hospital, watching as they remove the last bits of glass from his palm.

Face falling when he insults another would-be boyfriend.

That smile at Christmas this year when he finally does something right by her.

Dropping everything to fly halfway around the world because she was hurt and what difference does it make?

None, Josh tells himself while standing outside the O.R., because he's not in love with Donna Moss.

Even if at the moment he's having difficulty believing that.

.

.

FIN


	17. Two pretty boys for the price of one

HIGHER EDUCATION

.

.

"The few, the proud, the…"

"…inebriated?"

"That too."

Two beer bottles clinking together and for some reason beyond his ken, Sam chooses that exact moment to kiss Josh. His roommate blinks, tilts his head to the side.

"Did that just happen?"

Sam blushes. "Yeah."

"Huh."

Sam fumbles for an explanation. "College. I just thought, well, we're supposed to experiment, right? Um, and if you don't – that's, I mean-"

Josh cuts him off with another kiss, tongue sneaking out, brushing against Sam's. Josh grins when he pulls away.

"If it's in the name of being a good college boy and all…"

.

.

FIN


End file.
